Get Involved with Literature in Ottawa: 6 Reasons why you need to attend the Ottawa International Writers Festival

Celebrating imaginations from home and abroad, the Ottawa International Writers Festival has been connecting our capital city with writers and creative thinkers in fields ranging from science and politics to drama and spirituality, for almost two decades. This year, the festival has announced a brand new partnership with the University of Ottawa. With this new partnership, the Ottawa International Writers Festival is giving uOttawa students the fantastic opportunity to attend all of this spring’s main stage events for FREE. The festival will be taking place all throughout the month of April, with major showcases from April 21st-28th, just in time for the end of exams.

Besides being FREE, the Ottawa-based festival offers students a variety of different reasons to attend. To give you even more incentive to take advantage of this great opportunity, we’ve broken down the 6 reasons to attend this year’s Ottawa International Writer’s Festival.

(Featured Montreal-born writer Heather O’Neill)

Support Local Writers 

Although the festival focuses on uniting imaginations from local communities, as well as international minds, this year’s events will give attendees the chance to discover some great Canadian talent.

This spring’s festival will showcase Canadian award-winning authors like Heather O’Neill, Jane Urquhart, James K. Moran, and many more.

(Featured Author Michael V. Smith)

Discover New Ideas and Learn More About Your Current Current Interests 

The festival not only features published authors of fiction and literature, but showcases writers from the varying streams of:

Poetry Cabarets

Poetry is much more than rhyming and haikus. On April 24th, dive deeper into the world of poetry with Michael V. Smith and Raziel Reid in their showcase Pride and Prejudice. Their event will go beyond poetry as they speak on gender identity and intolerance.

Fiction

From Alice Munro to Margaret Atwood, Canada is home to a large group of fiction writers. On April 28th attend the Close to Home event, and discover more of what

Ontario has to offer, featuring writers Rhonda Douglas, Helen Humphreys, and James Bartleman.

“Big Ideas”

Sometimes we have to stand back and look at the world as a much bigger picture. On April 25th, Mona Elthway will be featured in the event Hymens and Headscarves, touching down on the major controversies behind women’s issues in the Middle East.

New Science

While your adolescent years may be behind you, the teenage brain is still something that confuses even those of us who were teens not long ago. On April 26th, those interested in digging deeper into what goes on inside the heads of teenagers, can join neurologist Dr. Frances E. Jensen in her talk The Teenage Brain.

Film/TV/Theatre and Music

While many would like to deny it, there is an art to blogging. On April 28th, join the Writers Festival in the 2015 edition of Blog Out Loud, featuring the best blog posts of this year.

History/Biography and Other Non-Fiction

Taking a further glance into life beyond the screen, authors Jennifer Kingsley and Deni Bechard will be connecting audience members with the natural world in their April 27th talk Close Encounters with the Natural World.

Expand Your Imagination Offline 

Lets face it, most of our new ‘discoveries’ and readings take place on our screens. While the virtual world gives us access to vast amounts of information and new ides, the writer’s festival gives you a chance to leave your laptops behind and learn something new in person, and outside of your lecture hall.

Be InspiredThe Ottawa International Writers Festival is giving uOttawa students the chance to open themselves up to new information and ideas for FREE. Even if you are not a writer, this is the opportunity to build on old interests, discover something new, make connections, and get inspired!

Find yourself making the annual promise to “read more this summer?”, with a massive panel of fantastic authors, it will be next to impossible to leave one of these events without the desire to read something other than your textbooks.

It’s FREE

If you haven’t caught on yet, uOttawa students can attend all of these great events for FREE.

It is recommended that students reserve tickets online in order to guarantee seats, as many events do sell out. If you do not have the chance to reserve a seat ahead of time, simply present your uOttawa student card at the door and you will be admitted for FREE, if space is available.

For more information on the events being hosted by the Ottawa International Writers Festival, check out: http://www.writersfestival.org/events

To keep up to date on news and receive more info on this Spring’s Ottawa International Writer’s Festival, be sure to check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OttawaWritersFestival, and follow them on Twitter @Writersfest for more festival updates.

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